Anyone knows about old paints??

i'm in the process of planning my 1966 a-100 restoration for this winter, and i was planning to paint my van red, so i went to see a professional car painter for advice, he told me that i had to strip to bare metal if i wanted to paint the van, because that was the original white paint and the old paint couldnt take the newer paint of today, is that right??he sounded like someone who wanted the job really badly, and i've been told he had a bad reputation , so i asked around but nobody knew for shure, any good painter in the room? i've seen some of you guys doing it by yourself and i find that pretty interesseting, i have all the equipment but not too much know how for old paints, any advice is apreciated.

i get in trouble for this but......... all earlys had lead based enamel paint that "has a tendancy" to cause new base coats and water bourne paints to, sink in, solvent pop, lift and crack and do all things weird. just remember these two words lead - cancer. i worked in a body shop for 14 years and saw the results of people trying to cut corners around old paint. save yourself the grief NOW and send your vehicle out for blasting with baking soda. better than sand and wont hurt things like door rubbers chrome and won't cause warpage of panels. get her down to the bare metal wherever you want to paint your colors on. money spent now won't make you spend it again later " redo "and make you bitter with your bodyman if it doesen't work out. he's being straight with you. the old paint should go....just my 2 cents ...........jeff

well Jkr, thats all i wanted to know, experience talking, how about striping it with paint striper into a well ventilated area?, and i never heard about bakin soda for blasting, ....really apreciated

Soda blasting won't warp the metal

it will cost much less in the long run to have it soda blasted versus paint stripper and much easier to clean afterwards. its also much faster.

To do it right, all the old paint has to come off.

Now that's some "Good to know" info. I've never heard anyone discuss this lead paint issue before.

you want to have had all your children before sanding the paint off some of these old cars and trucks if you know what i mean.thats why soda blasting makes so much sense. the better guys come to you and set an enclosure around what there doing and go at it with a particle suit and breathing respirorator. when done they pack it up and leave. no mess no fuss and tree hugger friendly.the chemicals involved in stripping are just as bad as some paints and messy too.

jkr... you are a fountaiin of info.... That explains all the "wierd" stuff going on with the paint on my '67. I figured I would have to take all the paint off. When I started I found some "old" bondo that they must not have put enough hardener in (1/4" thick") that was still soft at the bottom. Glad I'm wearing a respirator while doing this.

i will look for theses "soda" guys, it might be interessting, if its availlable where i live, thanks again

Yep, Had a few guys when I was in Atlanta. But since moving to Florida there's no one within 250 miles. That so sux!!

i imagine that sand blasting guys can offer that special service,..hey?

Yeah, Don't let "ANYONE" touch your baby with sand!!!! It will be worth nothing but spare parts if you do. And there's lots of shade-tree paint shops out there willing to try it, "ON YOUR VAN" and on "YOUR DIME"!!! Beware!!!

dont worried, nobody touch my baby ,.... if i cant find anyone , could it be made with common sand blast tools and a trip to the grocery store !?

eastwood has a soda blaster that will run on almost any air compressor (7cfm) The soda is suppose to be different than what they sell at the local grocery. I ordered one a couple of days ago. Guess I'll find out when it arrives. It was cheaper to buy my own than it was to send it out and get it done at a shop. I'm going to "practice" on a spare door first before I go at anything important with it.

please keep me in touch, and many pictures if you can....

I dont know much about this subject, however a friend is doing a complete restoration on a 57 Tbird. He was told the same thing about the old paint and sanding to bare metal.
You might want to go online to a couple of Auto paint Mfgrs and ask them for advice .

Eastwood gets the stuff out when you order it. I got my blaster late Friday afternoon. Had to work today and tomorrow too, so maybe get a chance to set it up monday after work.

i'll be waiting ....

Im interested in more info about baking soda blasting. Any one have a website or company to check with. Can you use the same type of gun and hopper that you use with sand?

Yes it is more like sand and you can get it in medium or course and with a 20% mixture of aluminum oxide added in. I got 50# of the medium and course to see what works better. It's not cheap, almost a dollar a pound plus shipping, I'm still looking for a local dealer. You can check out Eastwood.com to get more info, see a short video, and request a catalog that has more info. From looking at the catalog it looks like their are 2 differences, one is nozzle size, and they have a hose kit for 129.00, but if you are good at looking at the picture and can figure out the fitting sizes you can probably make it yourself for less.

i just got back yesterday from a trip and all along i've been asking about old paint to paint shop owners, some guys never heard of that and they were very sceptical about it, they all started to make phone calls to all there body shop friends, some were really not comfortable about my question they showed me there old cars painted over by new paint, they never stripped down to bare metal, these guys are in the 50's,(71 cudas, 64 buick skylark 65 pontiac) no new comers here! they knew about soda blasting, expensive they all said and not a must. they all put a epoxy primer sealer, mayby the answer??! i started stripping the van with a paint stripper and it's pretty easy, it goes off really fast, so i'm doing it outside so it doesnt smell , might as well doing it this way, its easy, fast and really cheap, the van is in a car pole with 2 extremitys that are open wide with wind going thru,..anyway doing it will make me see the general condition of the metal and the bondo that i mighht find ,i'll keep you posted for some replys that i'm waiting from theses guys ..i'm still confused but in the dout i prefere doing it...keep posting!

i just got news from the body shop owners, they told me it wasnt true, they all painted many cars without removing the old paints , also the mfrgs took out the lead only some 8-10 years ago so..they told me to put paint thinner on a rag and wipe it, if the paint come off, it should put to bare metal,...anyway i'll put it to bare metal, it will be done( with a chemical paint stripper)........

I know Harbor freight carries two grits of soda 30.00 for 50 lbs i believe